Streetlights
by BurntToastGirl
Summary: Kenshin is an assassin for hire. Sano is a gang thug in need of a career change. Magumi runs a homeless shelter. Karou is six! People come together in strange ways under the streetlights.


AUTHORESS'S NOTE: Well, lookiee here! It's my first RK fic! I'm a huge K+K fan but Alliechan gave me this idea so I had to run with it. Also my first shonen-ai! Aww! Decided to take all the characters we know and love and twist things around a little bit. Okay maybe a lot of bit. Whatever. If you review and give me good suggestions I promise to try and use them. Every 50 reviews gets an Outtake. Is that any sort of a decent bribe? Not really. Hey, I can't send brownies to everyone so it'll have to do! A FEW OTHER NOTES: 1. Don't own, don't sue. 2. You flame, I laugh. 3. If you bother to flame, please make them grammatically correct. Complete thoughts, please. That would be nice. 4. If you make it really memorable, I'll put you in my Flame Hall Of Fame! Excited? Probably not. On with the show.  
  
Streetlights Chapter 1  
  
The assassin hardly bothered to dress that part anymore.  
The coat was the only thing he still insisted on-- a long, dark grey thing, older than he was. A thrift shop leftover like most of his wardrobe. Like the old leather boots, the threadbare slacks, faded sweater of some nondescript color. Like the rest of it, the coat hung loosely on his thin frame as he made his slow and quiet way across the mansion's elegant main hall, where he would have stuck out like a severed thumb had the moonlight not completely leeched the color from the world. The velvet drapes were flung back, letting in the full, round, silver light. Everything was equally gray. The polished wood floors, the soft Persian rugs, the assassin's shock of red hair. The gleaming black sheathe of the katana that hung at his side.  
Halfway across the hall towards the grand front doors, he paused, and twitched the coat closed around himself. The gleam of metal blinked out.  
From a darkened alcove not five feet away came a faint giggle.  
The assassin was still, his face in shadow. The giggle came again. Slowly, he turned, and slowly he moved towards the breathy sound. At the edge of the gloom, he crouched and reached into the darkness to tweak the nose of the six year old girl hiding there.  
"Ken-shinnnn," she said, crossly, her little disembodied voice hollow and echoing. "Don't doooo that!"  
The assassin said, Forgive me, Karou-dono. I didn't know it was you!"  
With a click, both there faces were illuminated. The girl peeked out from behind a huge fern, potted in some vase that probably cost more than the rest of the furniture in the room together. Her skinny legs were tucked up underneath her blue nightgown and she clutched a small flashlight. Pointing the beam up under her pointed chin, she pulled a face and growled.  
The assassin clutched his heart. "Ah! It's not Karou-dono after all! It's a monster!"  
The girl giggled and pointed the light back at him. It was green, with G.I. Joe camouflage printed on it. "Aren't you gonna tell me not to do that or my face will stick that way?"  
"No, because if it did, it would only be an improvement."  
"HEY"  
Chuckling, he reached out and took the light, setting it down between them like a campfire. "What is the young Miss doing up so late?"  
  
"Waiting for you. An playing. Your busy now, huh?" Gravely, he nodded. She pouted. "I thought so. Daddy talks, like, forever."  
"Your father has some work for me to do for him."  
"Not like watching me?"  
  
"Not like that."  
"So that means I got to go to bed now, huh?"  
He nodded again. The girl rolled her eyes, and lifted her arms to him in a way that she was probably much too old to be doing. "Up."  
He carried her across the quiet hall, feeling her swing her small feet against his back. Up the grand staircase they went, and down a smaller hall, towards a door with a pink star nightlight burning in the socket outside, in case of any midnight trips to the bathroom were needed. Halfway there, she said, "Wait. Lets give Oniichan back his light."  
The door the assassin swung open led to a small room, dark and cold, lined with shelves covered in neatly arranged toys and books. He set his small burden down, and she padded across to the dresser and set the light next to a model Stealth Bomber, two plastic dinosaurs, and a framed photo of a pale-haired young boy.  
"G'night Enishi." On tiptoes, she blew a kiss to the picture. The puff of her breath disturbed the layer of dust that frosted the tabletop.  
"Okay. Up."  
Resuming their trek down the hall, the girl stared thoughtfully over her ride's shoulder. "The cleaning lady doesn't go in there anymore."  
"No?"  
"Nope. That's okay. They don't notice when I steal things as much."  
The assassin smiled.  
The girls floor was liberally strewn with toys, and her bed was liberally strewn with pillows. She snuggled down against them as the assassin pulled up the flannel blankets. "You gotta go now?"  
"Yes, I do."  
"It's cold outside. You should have mittens."  
The assassin held up his hands, which were almost swallowed by the coat's rather roomy cuffs. The girl giggled. "I have pockets," he said.  
"That's okay. I don't like mittens either."  
They were quiet for a moment. The assassin watched his small charge as her eyelids drooped sleepily. "You come see me tomorrow, okay?"  
"I promise," he said. "Now go to sleep." In a moment, she did.  
The assassin watched her for a moment, expressionless. Then he reached out to smooth back a long tangled lock of black hair from her round face. "Be safe, karou-dono," he whispered.  
He stood and shut the door quietly behind him.  
In the hallway, he did a quick scan of the area with his senses. Mostly out of habit. Nothing was getting in past this houses security, he knew that well. The live-in nanny was still sleeping soundly in her room nearby. No one was stirring, besides the guards, who were paid to.  
Finally, with a sigh, the assassin set off again the way he had come, down the grand staircase and across the now-empty hall, to kill a man for the girl's father.  
He didn't loosen the coat until he was well away from the house.  
  
WOW! THERE'S A CHAPTER! Hope it didn't suck too much. I promise lots of action if you'll stick with me. Please review, and I'll be your friend forever. Or maybe send you brownies. Or at least tell you you're cool a lot. Arigato !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


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